A Helping Hand
by AquilaTempestas
Summary: Shira's about to give birth, but Diego is nowhere to be seen!


_Shira's about to give birth, but Diego is nowhere to be seen!_

 **.**

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit! She crawled across the floor, uttering a small curse, as she tried to find a position that was comfortable. Her mother had never told her about pregnancy. She seemed to enjoy keeping Shira hidden in the dark about such details. All she told her daughter was, 'one day you'll find out', and that was it.

Yes, after about a month and two long gruelling days frolicking with Diego away from the herd, the process of making cubs had begun. She never experienced mating before and didn't have a clue what to do, but thankfully there was some sort of inbuilt system that told how her how to act. Diego was also new at this and she was thankful. No angry exes to deal with at least. But where was he now? She needed him!

She rolled onto her side and stretched her legs out, the action giving her some small comfort. She growled as she felt pain in her womb. "DIEGO!" she roared with the ferocity of an angry female sabre.

But Diego did not come. However, Ellie came. She was a welcome face in these difficult times. "I'm not Diego, but I'm here," she said, entering the cave.

Shira groaned and tried to smile, but the pain caused her smile to become a scowl instead. "Thanks Ellie." She meant it in the kindest way, but her expression said otherwise. Thankfully, Ellie just laughed. She knew that face all too well being a mother herself, and giving birth to a mammoth was much more difficult.

"You have to relax; you've got to focus on breathing."

Shira remembered the tip her mother gave her. "It's better to stand." It was normal for female sabres to stand when giving birth, so Shira stood up from the ground and lifted her tail up in the air. Soon, the first of four cubs appeared and dropped onto the floor. The other three soon came after. Shira collapsed on the ground thankful the whole ordeal was over, but she couldn't stay on the cave floor for long.

Mother's instinct took over and she climbed to her feet and walked over to her newborn cubs. Lowering her head towards the only female, a grey sabre like herself, she stuck out her tongue and licked the cub removing the fluid covering her. Once done she moved to the next three cubs – three males whom had inherited Diego's golden coat.

"Oh my gosh, they're so cute!" Ellie gushed, standing a few feet back from the mother and the newborns. She didn't want to startle them by being too close.

Shira grinned. All moodiness had eased now to be replaced by joy. "You can invite the others to come and look, but tell them to stay at the entrance." Ellie nodded and exited the cave to inform the rest of the herd of the good news.

Manny, Peaches, Sid, Crash and Eddie stood outside the cave with anxious expressions on their faces. But where was Diego? "Can we have a peek?" Peaches asked.

"I want to see them!" Sid said.

"Will it be all right?" asked Manny.

Ellie nodded. "One at a time, but please do not come further than the entrance." There was a sudden rush of movement and the herd raced to the entrance, eager to be the first to have a peek. No one seemed to notice Diego wasn't there. It was at that moment she heard a pounding of paws and knew the male sabre had arrived. "Well aren't you late?" Ellie said.

She noticed there was a young deer clamped in his jaws. _How disgusting_ , she thought, but she kept the comment to herself. It was not the time to talk about eating habits now. Well at least he hadn't run away for good. A runaway mate was bad news. Ellie poked her head in the cave. "Diego's arrived!" she said. "Shall I invite him in?"

Shira shook her head. "No, tell him he can wait outside until everyone else has had their turn. Ignore his excuses," said Shira, licking the blood of cub number three.

Ellie frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Shira nodded. "He wasn't here when I needed him. He can wait his turn." She did want Diego to see the cubs first, but he refused to show when she had called him. She needed to put him in his place. If he wanted to be with his cubs he'd have to earn the right.

"All right, I'll tell him."

Ellie walked out the cave and looked for Diego. She found him standing next to Manny and Sid with a deer in his jaws. "Shira says you have to wait until everyone else has looked."

Diego dropped the deer from his jaws. "I have rights!"

Ellie shook her trunk. "Right... so where were you when Shira needed you?"

Diego glanced down at the deer. "Hunting?" he offered, glancing back up. "I thought she might want something to eat."

Ellie fought the urge to squeal with delight so Peaches did instead. "Aww, how cute!" she said, appearing next to her father. She was half his height now and still growing. Soon, she'd be the same size as her mother. "Can we see them Ellie? Can we?"

Sid, and the two opossums, jumped up and down eagerly. "Yeah, can we? I'm going to bless them!" Sid announced.

"We'll have new friends!" Crash said.

Eddie grinned and whacked his brother with his tail. "We can roll dung down hills!"

The two opossums fell to their knees and giggled, slapping the ground with their hands. Ellie sighed, and said, "Yes, you can have your turn now."

With eager cries the three rushed towards the entrance and looked at the cubs. Sid brought a claw to his heart and sighed. "They're adorable!" he gushed.

Diego wasn't going to tolerate this anymore. He was the father, he should be the one watching the cubs and being with them. He picked up the deer and walked into the cave, pushing Sid and the opossums aside. Ignoring Shira's protests, Diego strolled over to his mate and dropped the deer next to her.

She looked up at him. "Oh, so now you decide to show." She tried to be angry, but she couldn't stop a smile from crossing her face. At least he was here and not somewhere else running away from fatherhood.

He nudged the deer closer to her. "I went to go and get some food; thought you might be hungry."

"Thanks Diego."

He grunted in response and glanced down at the four cubs. Upon seeing him, the four cubs pulled away from their mother and tried to run over to him. He sat down beside Shira and pulled some meat off the deer for her. "Here's to a new adventure," he said.

She took the piece from him. "And here's to us."

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This was originally uploaded in 2012 in lead up to the fourth movie being released. I don't write for this fandom anymore, but it's great to see people still writing Diego/Shira even after all these years.


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